Cyprus-Forum.com

[Piratis]

Halil, do you dispute the fact that it is the TCs who attacked the GCs in 1958 starting the inter-communal conflict?

Do you dispute the fact that in the inter-communal conflict which the TCs started both communities had casualties?

Also, let me ask you one more question: When the Turks were declaring Asia Minor as being "Turkey" did they have the right to do it? Did they take the approval of the 20% Kurds and the Greek and other minorities in order to do so? Was it a crime declaring Asia Minor as Turkey without the prior approval of the minorities? Cyprus was under the British and the Ottoman empires against the will of the overwhelming majority of the Cypriot people for centuries. You never complained about this. Yet, you believe it was a crime that the Cypriot people themselves wanted to be part of a free Greek state like it happened with most other Greek islands? Why?

[halil]

more to come after you've digested these.

no problem for me let the peoples to face what is the their versions of the history than they can discuss. no this wasn't like this or that it was like that ..... I always read others as well ..... and try to find truth and compare the past .

agreed Halil.

Thanks DT ,

here is the version of the İntercommunal fightings from
http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-3475.html

The atmosphere on the island was tense. On December 21, 1963, serious violence erupted in Nicosia when a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed. As the news spread, members of the underground organizations began firing and taking hostages. North of Nicosia, Turkish forces occupied a strong position at St. Hilarion Castle, dominating the road to Kyrenia on the northern coast. The road became a principal combat area as both sides fought to control it. Much intercommunal fighting occurred in Nicosia along the line separating the Greek and Turkish quarters of the city (known later as the Green Line). Turkish Cypriots were not concentrated in one area, but lived throughout the island, making their position precarious. Vice-President Küçük and Turkish Cypriot ministers and members of the House of Representatives ceased participating in the government.

In January 1964, after an inconclusive conference in London among representatives of Britain, Greece, Turkey, and the two Cypriot communities, UN Secretary General U Thant, at the request of the Cyprus government, sent a special representative to the island. After receiving a firsthand report in February, the Security Council authorized a peace-keeping force under the direction of the secretary general. Advance units reached Cyprus in March, and by May the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) totaled about 6,500 troops. Originally authorized for a three-month period, the force, at decreased strength, was still in position in the early 1990s.

Severe intercommunal fighting occurred in March and April 1964. When the worst of the fighting was over, Turkish Cypriots--sometimes of their own volition and at other times forced by the TMT--began moving from isolated rural areas and mixed villages into enclaves. Before long, a substantial portion of the island's Turkish Cypriot population was crowded into the Turkish quarter of Nicosia in tents and hastily constructed shacks. Slum conditions resulted from the serious overcrowding. All necessities as well as utilities had to be brought in through the Greek Cypriot lines. Many Turkish Cypriots who had not moved into Nicosia gave up their land and houses for the security of other enclaves.

In June 1964, the House of Representatives, functioning with only its Greek Cypriot members, passed a bill establishing the National Guard, in which all Cypriot males between the ages of eighteen and fifty-nine were liable to compulsory service. The right of Cypriots to bear arms was then limited to this National Guard and to the police. Invited by Makarios, General Grivas returned to Cyprus in June to assume command of the National Guard; the purpose of the new law was to curb the proliferation of Greek Cypriot irregular bands and bring them under control in an organization commanded by the prestigious Grivas. Turks and Turkish Cypriots meanwhile charged that large numbers of Greek regular troops were being clandestinely infiltrated into the island to lend professionalism to the National Guard. Turkey began military preparations for an invasion of the island. A brutally frank warning from United States president Lyndon B. Johnson to Prime Minister Ismet Inönü caused the Turks to call off the invasion. In August, however, Turkish jets attacked Greek Cypriot forces besieging Turkish Cypriot villages on the northwestern coast near Kokkina.

In July, veteran United States diplomat Dean Acheson met with Greek and Turkish representatives in Geneva. From this meeting emerged what became known as the Acheson Plan, according to which Greek Cypriots would have enosis and Greece was to award the Aegean island of Kastelorrizon to Turkey and compensate Turkish Cypriots wishing to emigrate. Secure Turkish enclaves and a Turkish sovereign military base area were to be provided on Cyprus. Makarios rejected the plan, because it called for what he saw as a modified form of partition.

Throughout 1964 and later, President Makarios and the Greek Cypriot leadership adopted the view that the establishment of UNFICYP by the UN Security Council had set aside the rights of intervention granted to the guarantor powers--Britain, Greece, and Turkey--by the Treaty of Guarantee. The Turkish leadership, on the other hand, contended that the Security Council action had reinforced the provisions of the treaty. These diametrically opposed views illustrated the basic Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot positions; the former holding that the constitution and the other provisions of the treaties were flexible and subject to change under changing conditions, and the latter, that they were fixed agreements, not subject to change.

Grivas and the National Guard reacted to Turkish pressure by initiating patrols into the Turkish Cypriot enclaves. Patrols surrounded two villages, Ayios Theodhoros and Kophinou, about twenty-five kilometers southwest of Larnaca, and began sending in heavily armed patrols. Fighting broke out, and by the time the Guard withdrew, twenty-six Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey issued an ultimatum and threatened to intervene in force to protect Turkish Cypriots. To back up their demands, the Turks massed troops on the Thracian border separating Greece and Turkey and began assembling an amphibious invasion force. The ultimatum's conditions included the expulsion of Grivas from Cyprus, removal of Greek troops from Cyprus, payment of indemnity for the casualties at Ayios Theodhoros and Kophinou, cessation of pressure on the Turkish Cypriot community, and the disbanding of the National Guard.

Grivas resigned as commander of the Greek Cypriot forces on November 20, 1967, and left the island, but the Turks did not reduce their readiness posture, and the dangerous situation of two NATO nations on the threshold of war with each other continued. President Johnson dispatched Cyrus R. Vance as his special envoy to Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus. Vance arrived in Ankara in late November and began ten days of negotiations that defused the situation. Greece agreed to withdraw its forces on Cyprus except for the contingent allowed by the 1960 treaties, provided that Turkey did the same and also dismounted its invasion force. Turkey agreed, and the crisis passed. During December 1967 and early January 1968, about 10,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios did not disband the National Guard, however, something he came to regret when it rebelled against him in 1974.

[DT.]

Turkish Aggression

Using as a pretext the coup of 15 July 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus allegedly as a "guarantor" of the island's independence but with the sole aim of destroying it. On 20 July 1974, 40.000 Turkish troops landed on the island assisted by Turkish air and naval forces, in violation of the U.N. Charter and all principles governing international relations as well as her own contractual obligations1. On 14 August, Turkey launched a second invasion in violation of the Security Council resolutions calling for a cease-fire and troop withdrawal, and of the agreements it signed at Geneva2. As a result, approximately 40% of the total territory of the Republic of Cyprus, which in economic terms is much more significant than its size (accounting for 70% of the economic potential), came under Turkish military occupation and about 40% of the total Greek Cypriot population was displaced. Moreover, thousands of people, including civilians, were killed or ill-treated and many more disappeared and are still missing3. Turkey also pursued a deliberate policy aimed at turkifying the occupied areas and at destroying the cultural heritage of Cyprus4.

[DT.]

Recourse to General Assembly Session XXIX

During its 29th Session, in November 1974, the U.N. General Assembly adopted unanimously resolution 3212 which provided the framework for a solution to the Cyprus problem. In its key provision it calls for the respect of the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and non-alignment of the Republic of Cyprus, for the speedy withdrawal of all foreign armed forces from the Republic, the cessation of all foreign interference, and for the taking of urgent measures for the return of the refugees to their homes in safety. The resolution of the General Assembly was endorsed by the Security Council in its resolution 365 (1974) of 13 December 1974, and thus its implementation was made mandatory.
Turkey, however, although one of the countries voting for the resolution refused to comply with any of its provisions.
Meanwhile, on 10 February 1975 the Greek Cypriot side, in an effort to enter into meaningful negotiations with the Turkish Cypriot side to find a peaceful and viable solution to the Cyprus problem sent to the Turkish Cypriot side proposals for a Cyprus settlement based on the U.N. resolutions.
The Greek Cypriot proposals aimed at safeguarding the interests - political and economic - and safety of both communities and the inalienable right of all refugees to return to their homes in safety, without resorting to an artificial geographical division of the island with all the adverse effects which such a division would entail on the economy and lives of the people1.
The Turkish reply to these was a statement on 13 February 1975, announcing the establishment of the "Turkish Federated State of Cyprus" ("T.F.S.C.") - an action denounced by the international community. The Security Council by its resolution 367 (1975) of 12 March 1975 after recalling its previous resolutions and particularly resolution 365 (1974), regretted this unilateral action and affirmed that such action could in no way prejudge the final political settlement of the Cyprus problem. The resolution also called for the urgent and effective implementation of all parts and provisions of General Assembly resolution 3212 (XXIX) endorsed by Security Council resolution 365 (1974). Turkey ignored this resolution and her own solemn undertakings once again. This Turkish move proved once more the insistence on the predetermined goal of Ankara for partition and eventual annexation.

[DT.]

Partition Plans Furthered

In furtherance of its plans of partition, and in violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and its international obligations regarding respect for human rights and all relevant resolutions of the United Nations, which it has itself endorsed or voted for, Turkey organized on 8 June 1975, in collaboration with the Turkish Cypriot leadership, a "referendum" in the occupied part of the Republic. This so-called referendum is of course null and void. A referendum in an area where 80% of the population has been forcibly expelled by a foreign occupying country is inconceivable. According to basic theory and logic a referendum is a democratic process and not a tool for racial discrimination against the overwhelming majority of the population. This action is not only against the Greek Cypriots, who have been living in this island for thousands of years, but also against the real interests of the Turkish Cypriot community, which has been used by Turkey in the last decade or so as its tool against the independence of Cyprus. The provisions of the "constitution" of the so-called Turkish Federated State of Cyprus are eloquent. In its preamble it claims that the "Turkish Cypriot community constitutes the inseparable part of the Great Turkish Nation". That the "constitution" aims at linking the occupied part with Turkey also becomes clear from the affirmation of the "members of the Assembly" to respect the "principles of Ataturk" and not the principles of the Constitution of Cyprus. It should be noted that the "constitution", in all relevant provisions, refers to the members of the Turkish Cypriot community as "Turkish citizens" so as to enable Turks from Turkey to colonize Cyprus without being distinguished from the indigenous Turkish population.
Another feature of the above "constitution" is the fact that all the enclaved Greek Cypriots as well as the non-Turkish communities in the territory under occupation by Turkey are defined as "aliens". They are deprived of their fundamental human and political rights, and their rights are determined by a "special law" for "aliens". Moreover, the Greek Cypriots' right to ownership is not respected. On the contrary, the "constitution" contains provisions whose application presupposes the expropriation of property belonging to Greek Cypriot displaced persons, such as houses, fields, factories, hotels etc., and their allocation to Turkish Cypriots and Turks from Turkey. An outrageous act of the Turkish Cypriot leadership was also the enactment of a "law" for the distribution of Greek Cypriot property to the Turks.

[DT.]

The Enclaved and Colonization of occupied areas

Towards the end of June 1975, there was a wave of unlawful and inhuman expulsions of the indigenous Greek Cypriot people who were enclaved in the occupied area. Thousands of Greek Cypriot inhabitants were thus uprooted and expelled from their homes and properties in violation of international law, the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the U.N. resolutions on Cyprus, and the Non-Aligned and Commonwealth resolutions. Hardly a few hours notice was given to these uprooted people, who were not even allowed to take with them any of their personal belongings. It is indicative of Turkey's expulsion policy that an old lady who was forced to leave inspite of her poor health, died on the way. In violation of the agreement on the living conditions of the enclaved reached at the third round of talks in Vienna the expulsion continued on a massive scale. All kinds of direct and indirect pressure were used to speed up the process. In a report, dated 30 October 1979, the U.N. Secretary-General expressed serious concern about the condition of the Greek Cypriots in the occupied area. He said that they continued to be restricted to their respective villages and immediate surroundings. Medical, educational and religious facilities worsened. There were no Greek Cypriot physicians practising in the Turkish-held region. The Greek Cypriot elementary schools did not re-open after the summer holidays, and secondary schools have remained closed since 1974. At present only 536 Greek Cypriots and 215 Maronites remain in the occupied area compared with a total of about 20.000 in August 1974.1
The reason they were forced to leave was to make room for the Turks who were imported as part of the implementation of Turkey's plan to change the demographic structure of the occupied region, as a first step to eventual annexation. While world public opinion was urging the parties in the Cyprus dispute to abstain from any action likely to prejudice the efforts to reach a settlement, Ankara launched and consequently intensified her plan for the colonisation of the occupied areas with settlers from the Turkish mainland. Turkey's plans in this respect provide for the transfer of 200.000 people from the poor provinces of Anatolia and the Black Sea coastal areas to the occupied areas of Cyprus. It is estimated that there are well over 80.000 settlers in the occupied area at present and this is also verified by Turkish Cypriot opposition reports and analysis2. Thus, not only is the island's long historic continuity being defaced but the total number of Greek Cypriot refugees, as stated in U.N. reports, has increased instead of diminished. Turkey neither took into consideration the relevant resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the Commission of Human Rights nor the recourses of Cyprus to the European Commission of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, which was declared admissible by the Commission despite objections of Ankara who alleged that the complaint was lodged by an "unlawful" Government. In fact the Commission, an impartial international judicial tribunal, having carefully evaluated evidence, has found by its report adopted on 10 July 1976, Turkey guilty of grave violations of human rights in Cyprus from 1974, onwards. (Killings, displacement of persons, deprivation of property, detention of civilians, missing persons, mass rape, inhuman treatment, deprivation of possessions and discrimination).

[T_C]

See what I mean, it's OK for the GCs to put their points across any time they wish, but when it's TCs, it's wrong, it's bringing up the past, it's lies, it's one sided.

GCs are weird!

[DT.]

See what I mean, it's OK for the GCs to put their points across any time they wish, but when it's TCs, it's wrong, it's bringing up the past, it's lies, it's one sided.

GCs are weird!

i am responding to halil

[ttoli]

Kids today Eh?
EOKA hero’s museum defaced with obscene graffiti
By Bejay Browne

THE museum honoring Evagoras Pallikarides in Tsada outside Paphos has been covered with lewd graffiti.

The museum’s curator discovered it when she went to open up yesterday morning.

Police believe children defaced the outside of the building, as the writing and drawings are of a juvenile nature, and full of sexual references.

Evagoras Pallikarides was born in Tsada on February 26, 1938 and was hung by the British on March 14, 1957, aged 18, for being caught carrying a gun, a capital offence at the time of the EOKA insurgency.

Evagoras Pallikarides also wrote poetry, with his most famous poem being about the freedom of Cyprus.

Source: http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.ph ... 0&cat_id=1

[Get Real!]

Kids today Eh?
EOKA hero’s museum defaced with obscene graffiti
By Bejay Browne

And you point being what with this post?